February 2, 2011

So, PC training thus far has been lots of language lessons in small groups of 3-5.  My group is 5 people (Erin, Kanji, Bobby and Tanner) who are all very different and interesting.  We have been through a lot together in a short period of time, so we know each other quite well at this point.  We have language 4 mornings (8-12) every week and although it’s necessary, it’s exhausting.  Our afternoons vary, as sometimes we are in the community IRB’ing (intentional relationship building) which is a key term and essential for any CBOD volunteer as relationships with community members is a priority.  So, we’ve been using a variety of community integration tools, which are basically ‘get to know your community, the resources and the people’.  So, in the afternoon we struggle to speak with villagers, village heads and government officials in our little Thai.  We always have our language teacher with us but she is only a 2^nd translator…meaning she’ll only step in if we really need her or really want to ask a question that we can’t put together in Thai.  Although it’s such great practice for us to get out there and just do it (because that’s what we’ll be doing when we are at site alone), it’s still quite exhausting.  After school, a bunch of volunteers often hang out for 30 minutes or so, but we have a curfew of 6pm so I’m home no later than that (for safety reasons and also so we’ll spend time with our families, speaking Thai).  I really enjoy being home with my family because they are so great.   Although we still sometimes struggle to communicate, I’m slowly getting to know them all better and really become a part of the family.  We joke as my host mom now introduces me as her oldest daughter – it’s really sweet.  It’s comforting to come home after a long day, and I’m grateful for that.  After dinner, homework, getting to know you convo (I joke that what I know about my Thai family in 2 weeks of living with them, I could have….I’m that cool J

Peace Corps also has a different volunteer who is currently serving in PC come in every week to talk to us about techniques, their projects, their experience, how they deal with language, etc etc.  Every person has been such a wealth of knowledge and proof that we can all do this and although it’s really hard, we can actually do it well J  On Monday, we had a Buddhist monk come speak to us about Buddhism. He’s no ordinary monk, however.  He’s the secretary to the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, equivalent to the Pope.  He was ordained as a monk at 14 years old and was educated in England (PhD) and now teaches all over the world about Buddhism.  It was great to hear this lecture the day after I visited the 9 Wats of Ayutthaya.  (Ayutthaya is a province/state and was the capital of Thailand prior to Bangkok) Wats are a key staple in every village and all over Thailand.  They are like churches in Italy or Starbucks in NY…on every corner.  Needless to say, Buddhism is a huge part of life in Thailand and it’s been interesting to learn about and visit these beautiful and unique Wats.  Each of the 9 Wat/temple were different and unique – 1 of them was a Chinese Temple as there is a large Chinese population in Thailand.  In between visiting the Wats and paying our respects (wai’ing 3 times to the monk/Buddha statue, bringing flowers, lighting incense) we went to a water market.   The market sellers park their little boats around the pier in the water and cook and serve food, etc  - very cool and of course, delicious food.  The last Wat we went to was actually in the place of ruins – the area had been burned hundreds of years ago.  One of the King’s (I can’t remember which one) had his ashes buried there.  Pretty cool. 

We are learning about Thai sports this week and this weekend is sports day for the PC trainees.  I’m on the Green Team and we have to make up cheers, play Thai games and stuff like that – sounds like fun!  I think I may be able to bring a little Daler cheerleader spirit to my team!  

Today, we met with a rice farmer to ask about rice farming and he invited us to go out to the farms with him on Sunday to watch and help!  I’m so unbelievably excited!  After that, I’m cooking for my language group and our families and we are having a big dinner.  Wish me luck!

Love you and miss you all

January 27, 2011

Internet is very limited, so I’ve been writing on my computer and save to a USB and will post when I get the internet.  I just discovered tonight that my host family does have a computer but I didn’t ask if they have internet.  This is the first time I saw anybody on the computer and assume it’s not used often, so would rather just go to an internet café.  With that, these posts are quite delayed and I apologize.

This past Friday night my family and I went to the local market which is quite big on Friday nights.  There are tons of Thai dishes, sweets, clothes, music, etc.  My family and I bought some side dishes for dinner which we ate on the floor (traditional Thai style) for the first time.  We typically eat dinner outside at a table, but because there were tons of these little knat/bugs outside, we ate inside which has only a small table that isn’t big enough for all of us.  So, as we are eating, a little gecko is running around the floor (they are really cute and are not bothersome at all) as the cats (yes, we have 2 cats and thank God they leave me alone!) chase it.  So, my host brother is trying to hold the cat back – as this is going on I think to myself that the cat won’t really catch the gecko.  Needless to say, I was surprised when the cat caught the gecko’s tail and cut the tail off: the gecko ran off while the tail was right beside us jumping around!!!!  It was gross, funny and exciting to me….and a bit awful as I felt bad for the gecko who lost his tail.  Nobody else seemed to be phased by this so I imagine this is normal for them, which made me even more excited!!!  After dinner, we painted these little figurines that we bought at the market.  They came with a variety of color paints, each in individual baggies, and we painted together after dinner.  It was great to do something active together.   **Please note that just days later a gecko pooped on my arm!  It was hysterical and just my luck!!** That weekend I also was allowed to help in the kitchen!!!  We all (me, host mom, aunt, little sister and her friend) made these delicious sweets (sweets/deserts are called kanome) and then delivered some to all the neighbors.

We are beginning to learn about, understand and visit our community, the resources and the government offices in our dtambon (sub-district) and amphur (district) that we are currently living in during training.  As CBOD volunteers, we will be working at the government offices and with a counterpart within the dtambon we are placed in after training.  Thus, it’s important for us to learn about the structure of Thai government (fairly new, within past 15 years or so) and the village structure as this was the original form of government within the villages. Apparently, the original structure now exists next to the new governmental structure and still functions although there is an official governmental structure.  It’s interesting how the government coincides with the village heads/people and how they seem to work together.  It’s like they came in with the new, but never threw out the old.  I’ve learned that the villagers are all aware of both systems and ideally, will work together, not against each other.  Of course, not all function in an ideal manner, but I think it’s an innovative concept and it’s been interesting to learn about.  Within the government structure, there are ministries or sub-departments. The sub-departments may focus on agriculture, health, community development, etc and we have begun to visit each individual office and learn about their role. It’s making me excited about going into my site at the end of training to begin my work!

This upcoming weekend is quite busy. Saturday is a Thai culture day at school and Sunday I’ll be with the family and some family friends (who also are hosting volunteers) in which we’ll be visiting an important/significant/holy place within the province we are living in.  I hope it’s one of those spots that only the villagers know about, as those are always the best!  More to come…..

January 21, 2011

So, I’ve been living in Thailand for almost 2 weeks and although there’s still so much to learn, see, do, try, mistakes to be made, good days, bad days, etc. I feel very good here so far.  I think that’s much due to the family that has been hosting me for 1 week and who I’ll be living with for another 7 weeks.  I simply don’t think I can say enough wonderful things about them – they have been simply amazing.  They not only cater to my vegetarianism, but they cater to it with the most delicious Thai food I’ve ever had.  I keep telling them that 2 months with them and I’m going to be fat!  I think they are impressed with how much I can eat and how I like spicy food J  The family is first and foremost, genuine and sincere.  They are warm, loving and patient as they speak absolutely no English and I speak very little Thai.  Every day, my host mom teaches me something new, helps with homework, practices sentences and any Thai vocab I possess thus far is because of her and her kids.  They also teach me about Thai culture, appropriate Thai manners, eating etiquette (take a little food of 1 dish at a time into your plate, when you finish that, take a little more of 1 dish, and so on and so on), etc.  Somehow we communicate quite well – basically we have been playing lots of charades!  My homestay dad works in a bigger city for 3 weeks/month and then is home 1 week/month, so I haven’t met him yet.  But my homestay mom is just unbelievable.  They have 2 kids, a 10 year old boy who always helps me speak Thai and a 9 year old sister.  The kids were quite shy in the beginning but are slowly warming up.  They are obsessed with my bike (especially my host brother) so this weekend they will help me clean and oil my chain!   My host mom’s older sister also stays with us for pretty much all day.  So far, from my observation, she cooks ALL day (God bless her!) and she is responsible for the delicious meals!  I’ve washed my own clothes by hand as my homestay sister and her friend watched me and periodically giggled to each other (they were very cute…I was literally like a show to them!), yet also corrected me if I did something in a non-Thai fashion and/or answered my questions.   

Life is far from primitive, as I was expecting.  We have electricity, which is wonderful.  It depends on whose home you go to or what area you go to, but things will range from bucket baths to showers, squat toilets to flush sit down toilets.  My host family seems to fall somewhere in the middle regarding these amenities.   Honestly, the way of life is simple and nice here.  It’s the cold season so nights and mornings are cool.  But, the minute you start riding that bike, the heat hits like a ton of bricks.  It hasn’t been too uncomfortable yet, although I don’t look forward to doing anything in the hot season, let along biking!

The other night, I had a really nice moment with my homestay mom.  She called me over to the window and pointed to the moon that was lighting up the sky and it was so beautiful.  I told her so, as I also told her that Thailand was a beautiful country.   Up until this point, she had never asked me about America, but then asked me if America was beautiful.  I told her that it was.  It was such a simple exchange, but it felt good to be able to share that with her and share a piece of where I come from with her.  Since then, we have been able to share much more information about our families as well.  She asks about my family in America and asks if they are beautiful – of course I tell her yes!  

I miss you all and hope that you are all well J